How do you say it in Italian?
Buona domenica
Buona domenica is the most common way to say happy Sunday in Italian.
| Buona domenica! | Happy Sunday! |
If you know anything about Italian, you know that buono means good. So why did we change its final -o with -a here? Because domenica is a feminine noun. All adjectives in Italian must agree in gender and number with the noun they are describing.
You can also use this expression to translate have a good Sunday.
Other examples of this behavior include…
| Buona vacanza | (Have a) nice vacation |
| Buona passeggiata | (Have a) nice walk |
| Buona cena | (Have a) nice dinner |
So we say: buona domenica!
| Buona domenica, Giorgio! Ci vediamo la prossima settimana! | (Have a) happy Sunday, Giorgio! See you next week! |
The days of the week are not capitalized in Italian!
So we will say buona domenica, with a lower case D.
Passa una buona domenica
You can also say passa una buona domenica, which literally means spend a nice Sunday in Italian. This is appropriate to use with a person you are on familiar terms with.
| Passa una buona domenica! | (Have a) happy Sunday! |
This expression uses the verb passare, which can mean to pass or to spend.
To wish a group of people a happy Sunday in Italian, you can use passate una buona domenica.
| Passate una buona domenica! | Happy Sunday! |
Finally, you can say passi una buona domenica in polite situations, such as to your boss at work.
| Passi una buona domenica! | Happy Sunday! |
To spend, as in to spend some time, can also be translated with the verb trascorrere, but you will rarely hear something like trascorri una buona domenica to translate happy Sunday in Italian. It’s clunky and a bit formal, so its use is usually limited to very polite situations:
| Trascorra una buona domenica! | Happy Sunday! |
Sundays in Italy
You may already know that domenica comes from the Latin word dominĭca, “day of the Lord”.
What do Italians like to do on a Sunday? Well, many people here are Christians, so they usually go to church (andare a Messa or andare in chiesa) on Sunday morning.
| Andare a Messa | To go to Mass | |
| Andare in chiesa | To go to church |
They also like to go shopping (fare compere) in big shopping centers (one-man shops are usually closed on Sundays). Shopping centers are especially crowded, affollati, when it’s sales time (tempo di saldi).
| Fare compere | To go shopping |
Other people like to watch TV (guardare la televisione) or just read a book and relax at home (rilassarsi a casa)!
| Guardare la televisione | To watch TV | |
| Rilassarsi a casa | To relax at home |
More free Italian resources
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